The Heiress in Blue - Chapter 22

Jeong Mi sat at the dining room table, furiously stirring her rice and side dishes with a spoon.

Her actions caused the faces of the lined up employees and the cooking team to harden.

Ha Eun laughed while Sophia pretended not to notice.

'She's picking a fight again.'

All the summoned employees automatically had that thought.

Head Chef Baek is not only skilled, but also sincere about cooking.

There's no way someone like him would smoke while making food.

However, this was Jeong Mi's habit and hobby.

She would summon the employees, insult them, and try to rule over them.

Unlike the employees' worried expressions, Head Chef Baek calmly replied,

"I do not smoke."

"Then why does the food have an unpleasant smell?"

She threw the spoon haphazardly on the table.

The employees' shoulders shrank.

"Madam, if you tell me what is wrong, I will rectify it."

"What?"

"Exactly where is that smell coming from?"

Jeong Mi seemed taken aback for a moment, as if she didn't expect Head Chef Baek to retort.

At that moment, Ha Eun slammed her spoon on the mat and shouted,

"Hey, how dare you talk back to my mother?"

"Of course not. It's just that Madam is so displeased she can't even eat, so I want to fix it. Madam, where is that unpleasant smell coming from?"

Jeong Mi said with a frown,

"Everywhere."

"Everywhere?"

"Yes, everywhere! All the food you made smells rotten!"

Jeong Mi, boiling with anger, slammed her fist on the table.

"Mother."

A low voice called out.

Jeong Mi's gaze landed on Sophia.

As she smiled, Jeong Mi immediately straightened her posture and said,

"I think there must be a problem with the ingredients."

"Madam, all these ingredients arrived fresh this morning."

"They only arrived this morning, but they don't seem fresh. Change the ingredient supplier."

"...Pardon?"

Jeong Mi pushed a business card to Head Chef Baek.

"From now on, deal with that company. And I told them to properly separate what our family and the employees eat, so keep that in mind. Honestly, it's too much for employees to eat the same ingredients as the employers. Don't you think?"

"Madam, that was something the chairman specifically instructed."

"Are you going to keep talking back? Head Chef Baek, do you want to quit working at Blue House?"

With those threatening words, she left the dining room.

Ha Eun also followed behind her with a smirk.

"Head Chef, it's troublesome if you're too rigid like that. You need to compromise appropriately to have an easy life."

Gently advising, Sophia also left the dining room and quickly joined the two women.

"Will that stubborn man listen?"

Jeong Mi glanced at the dining room and said,

"If he doesn't, he'll have to resign, so Head Chef Baek will probably listen."

"But are they really dropping the promised amount there?"

Sophia replied,

"I already made an agreement with the owner there. If we switch the ingredients going to Blue House employees from A-grade to C-grade starting now, we'll save at least 10 million won a month. Depending on how it goes, if we expand it to all employee cafeterias in the group, at least 500 million won a month will go to your hands. Honestly, Aunt uses too high quality ingredients for the employees. It's a waste."

"Seriously. Using A-grade ingredients for the likes of them? Brother-in-law is really too much. If there's that much money left over, he should give some to me."

"I agree."

"Anyway, thanks to you Sophia, my allowance won't be lacking."

"Mom, you'll give some to me too, right?"

"Of course. Anyhow, it's good to have someone like you join the family. You solved my insufficient allowance in one go and put Jung Yeo Reum in her place. You're our family's lucky charm."

"Thank you."

The three women walked down the corridor, giggling with satisfaction.

Seeing San Ha smiling brightly with a lunchbox, the nurses at the VIP desk had a perplexed expression.

Secretary Choi quickly handed them the fruit basket he was holding and said,

"Please have some. It's really delicious."

The head nurse said,

"The caregiver just went down to the cafeteria. He'll be back in about 20 minutes."

"Thank you."

San Ha bowed politely and entered the hospital room.

Secretary Choi, as if it was something he did every time, went and sat on a nearby sofa.

"Hey, Hae Il! Your elder brother is here."

San Ha approached Hae Il's bed and greeted him loudly.

"I dropped by since it's lunchtime. To eat with you."

There was never a response, but San Ha didn't mind.

He familiarly took off his padded jacket, placed it on the sofa, and walked over to sit in the chair next to the bed.

"Today it's sushi. I bought it from Hon, the place you liked. That restaurant is a huge hit these days. I think it's because the chef appeared on TV."

San Ha picked up chopsticks and took a halibut sushi with deliciously white fish flesh, lightly dipping it in soy sauce.

He then brought it close to Hae Il's nose.

"How is it, doesn't it smell good? Looks tasty, right?"

The sushi playfully moved back and forth in front of Hae Il's nose.

"Jin Hae Il, you're slow these days. You should quickly snatch it and say 'it's mine'!"

Looking down at Hae Il's thin face that still didn't move, San Ha said,

"You don't like this? Not tempting? Then I have no choice. Your elder brother will eat it."

San Ha promptly put it in his mouth.

"Ah, it's delicious. It just melts. Why are you refusing this delicious food?"

As always, San Ha sat by Hae Il's bedside, talking about all sorts of things, laughing and chattering by himself.

At that moment, Nurse Kim hurriedly entered the room.

"Director! Hurry and hide! Madam suddenly came!"

Behind her stood Secretary Choi with a flustered expression.

But before San Ha could even get up, the hospital room door swung open and a woman in her late 50s immediately shouted,

"I said I won't forgive this kind of behavior a second time!"

Although she had an intelligent face and elegant attire, her eyes looking at San Ha were ice cold.

"I apologize, Madam."

The head nurse bowed her head.

But the angry woman's hand was being raised.

A rough sound of friction was heard loudly.

The head nurse, who had her eyes tightly shut, slightly opened them and looked ahead.

A large shadow.

One side of San Ha's cheek had turned red.

"It's not their fault. I begged them because I wanted to see Hae Il. It's my fault."

She seemed startled that San Ha was slapped, but soon glared at him even more and shouted,

"I told you not to come here anymore! You think our Hae Il wants to see you? Who put him in this state! How furious do you think he'd be to see you!"

"He'll definitely wake up because he's resentful."

"What?"

"Hae Il will surely wake up even if just out of injustice. And until then, no matter what you say, I will come here."

"...Shut that mouth!"

The angry woman roughly pushed San Ha and hit him with her fists.

The people standing around screamed in surprise, but he didn't budge.

"Go! You go!"

She even threw the sushi placed on the side table at San Ha.

"Get out! I said get out right now!"

She was screaming like a madwoman, pointing fingers.

But still, San Ha didn't move, so she ended up pushing his back and kicking him out of the hospital room.

"Don't come here a second time! If you do it again, I really won't leave you alone!"

She slammed the hospital room door shut.

"...Director."

Secretary Choi hurriedly approached and brushed off the things stuck on San Ha's body.

He didn't know what to do upon seeing San Ha's face that had turned beet red.

"It's alright."

"No matter what, how can she do this...?"

"I said I'm fine. But I feel bad for the nurses."

The head nurse said,

"We are alright."

"I keep causing you trouble."

"No, not at all."

"I'm sorry. And truly thank you."

San Ha repeatedly bowed his head to them in gratitude.

"I should get going for today. I'll come again next time."

"Yes."

San Ha looked back at the hospital room one more time as if he was reluctant, but instead of saying anything else, he walked out of the corridor.

Secretary Choi with a sorrowful face followed behind him.

"It's delicious. This place is good."

As Yeo Reum stuffed her mouth full of black bean noodles and chewed, there was a face staring at her through the glass window.

It was an employee from the store next door.

Seeing Yeo Reum eating the noodles, she had a horrified expression and hurriedly called someone.

Soon, employees from nearby stores gathered by the glass window, pointing at Yeo Reum and whispering.

Then, two employees who said they were going to the restroom came running in a hurry.

"What are you doing!"

The two employees shouted as soon as they entered the store.

Perhaps because of that, more employees gathered by the surrounding glass windows.

They all had shocked faces.

"What are you doing here!"

"As you can see, I'm eating. I was hungry too."

"Take that away right now!"

The woman who approached tried to snatch the bowl, but Yeo Reum grabbed the woman's wrist faster than that.

"...Ah, it hurts!"

The woman writhed in pain, not knowing what to do.

"Then why are you trying to take someone's food? They say even dogs don't bother people when they're eating, let alone a person eating."

She pretended to let go and pushed her away.

The suddenly shoved woman sat down.

The other surprised employee hurriedly took out her cell phone.

"The radish is delicious at this place too."

Outside the window, even more employees gathered and were murmuring.

Among them, the manager was seen running over in a hurry.

Of course, as soon as she entered, she also shouted,

"Are you crazy? Do you know where this is to be doing this!"

Chewing the noodles that filled her mouth, Yeo Reum said,

"Doing what? I'm just eating, why are you saying such hurtful things."

Smiling brightly, her face made the manager's anger seem to explode.

"What are you all standing there watching for? Call security right now and drag this woman out!"

An employee who returned to the counter hurriedly picked up the intercom phone.

Soon, three well-built men in black suits entered.

They also seemed dumbfounded upon seeing Yeo Reum, but quickly approached and tried to grab her arm.

"Wait a moment."

As Yeo Reum raised one hand, they hesitantly stopped.

"I must seem like a troublesome customer, right? I understand."

Their brows furrowed as if asking what she was talking about.

"But there's something you should clearly know. I'm not a troublesome customer, but a normal customer protesting the absurd power trip of Brewing employees. So if any of you touch even a finger on my body, I'll have no choice but to sue you for sexual harassment."

Looking straight into the eyes of each and every one of them, Yeo Reum continued,

"I don't want to fight with you innocent people. This is an issue between me and those three Brewing employees."

Despite the absurd behavior, her voice was too calm.

So it was more powerful.

"What are you all standing there watching for? I said to drag that woman out right now!"

The manager shouted at the top of her lungs, but the word 'sexual harassment' had already come out.

And seeing the current actions, the security personnel concluded that it would not end as a mere warning.

They glanced at each other in a difficult position.

"What are you doing? Drag that woman out immediately! Should I call the police? Do you all want to get disciplined as a team?"

The manager was now pointing fingers and raising her voice at the security team.

"Call the police instead."

The manager turned around.

It was Yeo Reum, crunching on pickled radish.

"Don't harass ambiguous people and just call the police yourself."

The manager flinched at those words.

"...You, get out of here right now!"

"I even spread out my mat here, you think I'll just leave? I can't leave."

"Hey!"

"And what are you doing? Didn't you say you're reporting to the police? Should I report instead? Want me to do it for you?"

The manager had a face full of spite but only trembled with her cell phone in hand.

At that moment, the employees beyond the glass window hurriedly stepped aside and bowed their heads.

A man who appeared to be in his late 20s suddenly appeared.

He was tall and had a perfect suit attire.

He seemed like someone who could take responsibility for this situation.

"Oh, look who's here."

The manager's eyes, which were shaking with anger, widened as if they would pop out upon discovering the man.

She hurriedly bowed her head towards the young man entering.

"...Re-, Representative."